Around hundreds of people gathered in Kannadickal, a small town in Kerala's Kozhikode district, on Saturday to pay their final respects to 30-year-old truck driver Arjun. For 71 agonizing days, his family had hoped for news of his survival after he went missing in a devastating landslide in Karnataka. However, their hopes were shattered when Arjun's body was discovered inside his truck, buried under debris, two months later.
The emotional outpouring in the village was palpable as the ambulance carrying Arjun’s remains arrived. Friends, neighbours and fellow truck drivers broke down in tears, struggling to come to terms with the loss. People from all walks of life lined the streets, and many waited by the roadside, silently grieving as the motorcade passed by.
"We believed till some days back that Arjun was alive and might be under treatment somewhere... We never expected his return to be in this form," said a neighbor, as reported by PTI.
His grieving family held his last rites in the compound of their house, surrounded by tearful neighbors and loved ones.
Arjun had left home in July, driving a truck loaded with wooden logs for delivery in Karnataka. On July 16, a landslide struck the Shirur area along the Kochi-Panvel national highway, and Arjun went missing. Despite relentless search efforts, no trace of him was found until Thursday, when his truck was finally lifted from the Gangavali River in Shirur. Inside the truck's cabin, authorities found Arjun’s body.
Karwar MLA Sathish Krishna Sail, who had closely followed the search operations, was among the first to spot the body in the truck, as reported by IANS. After being retrieved, Arjun’s body was transported to his home in Kerala, where a massive crowd gathered for his final journey.
